Mops of various types and configurations have been used for cleaning soiled surfaces and for absorbing moisture for many years. It is similarly well known to employ a brush or other type of abrasive element on certain different varieties of mops, in order to increase the versatility of such mops. An abrasive surface element allows the added feature of scrubbing and cleaning ingrained soiled surfaces, thereby enhancing the capability and versatility of the standard mop with a soft mop head, which only functions efficiently when used for light surface cleaning or moisture absorption.
As early as the late nineteenth century, brush surfaces were added to mops, as seen in the pivoted press plate sponge mop shown in U.S. Pat. No. 603,999. Other examples of abrasive brush surfaces on mops of varied configurations include U.S. Pat. No. 2,472,781, showing a brush mounted on a one piece sponge mop; U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,998, disclosing an abrasive scrubber mounted on a roller type sponge mop; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,750, which employs a unique abrasive scrubber unit employed on a buttery sponge mop.
Self-wringing absorbent swab mops, like that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,387 have also been common for years. And recent mop technology has developed a self-wringing absorbent swab mop which uses a unique, slidably mounted hollow housing with a plurality of rollers attached to a squeeze ring in order to wring or squeeze moisture from the strands of the mop. However, this mop, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,694, and all prior similar self-wringing swab mops, do not have the efficient, unencumbered ingrained soiled surface scrubbing capability which other varieties of mops, like the sponge, roller, and butterfly mops referenced above, have. The swab mop shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,509 discloses the use of a scrubber element, yet that element is placed on the ends of the mop strands themselves, making the use of the mop difficult and making the effective unencumbered use of the scrubber impossible. The placement and attachment of a scrubber element in this location also makes it susceptible to being easily torn from the mop upon extended use.